Spooks star Peter: Our romance wasn't scripted

Spooks star Peter: Our romance wasn't scripted
Spooks star Peter: Our romance wasn't scripted (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Spooks star Peter Firth has revealed the romance between his character Harry and colleague Ruth wasn't scripted. The 57-year-old actor revealed he and co-star Nicola Walker improvised their character's flirtation, inspiring the writers of the hit BBC spy show to write a relationship between them. Peter told the Radio Times: "The romance was never scripted. "It was her and I flirting in takes, holding looks too long, lingering over lines. The writers picked up on that and it just grew from there. Nicola Walker, who plays Ruth, is a bit unpredictable - you never know what she's going to do - but she's an utter joy to play alongside." The new series of Spooks will be the last, but Peter is pleased they're ending on a high. He said: "The swansong feeling has been there a couple of years and it's better to go out on a high. Few shows run for 10 years and if you learn from your mistakes and not make them the next year, but make some different ones and learn from them, then you build and build." But as for whether Harry and Ruth will have a happy ending, Peter isn't giving anything away. He said: "This series is a six-act Greek tragedy with a profoundly tragic ending. But there's an optimistic note to tell you that the fight isn't over."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.